stimulate the growth of the higher paid jobs in technology and manufacturing that we really need to get the economy moving again. joining us is brenda buttner. good to see you. that is the good news. seasonal hiring is a record high? >> yeah it really is. we have had some reports from that basically we've seen 20% increase of holiday hiring from last year. amazon, target both reporting 21% more increase in hiring. >> gregg: how long are those going to hang around? >> that is a good question. we always see a drop-off that cliff of the employment cliff in january. what is more revealing we're seeing so much increase of hiring it was mainly in november. i would like to see december's numbers. we expected a strong consumer spending season. it's turning out to be much more disappointing than we had anticipated. >> gregg: why is that? >> many of the people who were surveyed say they are expecting they are going to have higher taxes. they are worried about the fiscal cliff. we saw a drop-off of spending as the fiscal cliff seemed to be more and more real as all the talks fell apart. >> gregg: